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TURKEY-MILITARY-HUNTING
Turkey hunting 89 military personnel over failed coup
ISTANBUL, Sept 10, 2018 (BSS/Xinhua) – Turkish prosecutors issued
detention warrants for 89 military personnel on Monday over alleged links to
a group believed to be behind a failed coup bid in 2016, local media
reported.
Operations were launched in Istanbul to catch the suspects, some of whom
are still serving in the Turkish armed forces, the state-run Anadolu Agency
said. So far 48 soldiers have been detained, including a colonel who was
expelled from the army and was taken into custody at the last minute when he
was about to leave the country from Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport, Anadolu
said.
Turkey accuses U.S.-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen and his network
of masterminding the failed coup in July 2016, and has long sought his
extradition to Turkey. Gulen has denied any role in the coup attempt, in
which 250 people were killed.
BSS/XINHUA/FI/ 1400 hrs